100 Ways Hak Said I Love You
by animomma
Summary: Hak spends most of his life telling Yona he loves her, but she doesn't always hear him.
1. Chapter 1

The morning had dawned bright and cold, and Hak shivered under his covers, reluctant to get up and face the day. He had come to the palace with Mundok again to stay for a week, and this visit had just happened to correspond with the coldest time of the year. Hak wasn't at all convinced that palace life was all it was cracked up to be, since the cold seemed to permeate every brick here, no matter how many fires were lighted. He supposed that had to do with the size of the rooms. It was simply hard to produce enough heat to fill them, unlike the tidy little houses of the Wind Tribe back home. They didn't have any problems staying warm during the winter there. Well, at least not as much trouble as at the palace.

Just when he was deciding that it wasn't warm enough for him to be awake, and that he should go back to sleep, the door to his room banged open, and a red blur flung itself onto him.

"Hak! Hak, get up!" the blur squealed, and he sighed as he recognized Yona's tiny form sitting on top of his chest.

"Ugh, Princess, get off me! I was still sleeping!"

She huffed at him. "No, you weren't, I saw your eyes open! Now come, on, Hak, it snowed last night! You have to come see, hurry!" She jumped off of his bed, and grabbed onto his sleeve, trying unsuccessfully to pull him out of bed. Even though they were both children, Hak had always been larger than the tiny princess who was tugging on his arm.

Hak sighed. Well, it's not like he was going to get any more sleep with her bouncing around his room like this. Might as well get up and humor her. A voice in the back of his head whispered, _Besides, it will be worth it to see her smile._ Hak quickly dismissed this thought. Lately, he'd been having more and more like it, and it was becoming hard to ignore his confusing, growing feelings for the pint-sized princess.

"All right, Princess, let go. I'm getting up." He swung his feet around to touch the floor, and pushed himself up so he was standing next to Yona. She clapped her hands and squealed, "Come on, let's go wake up Soo-Won!"

Hak yawned and stretched his hands up above his head. "You go ahead, I still have to get dressed."

Yona pouted, but replied, "Ok, just don't take too long. Meet us out in the courtyard." And with that, she dashed out of his room as quickly and as suddenly as she had entered.

As she left, Hak belatedly realized that she hadn't been wearing any type of coat or other snow protection. He rushed to the door of his room to yell at her to put on a hat, but by the time he poked his head out the door, she was gone. Mumbling to himself, Hak quickly dressed, then hurried out the door to find some garments for his scatterbrained princess.

His first stop was Yona's room. He'd only been in it a few times, and entering alone made him feel a bit nervous, like he was intruding on something private. He shook the feeling off quickly, though, and started rummaging through her clothes for suitable snow articles. Without too much effort, he managed to find a heavy overcoat, thick, fluffy boots, and a matching hat and mittens set that looked serviceable. With his treasures in hand, he hurried outside to find Yona. He was certain that it wouldn't occur to her to be cold until after they had played in the snow for several hours, and hoped to find her before she got too covered.

Fortunately, the sound of her tinkling laughter led him directly to his two friends as they frolicked in the snow, tossing it in the air and laughing at the shower of flakes that covered them. Hak sighed. Of course Soo-Won wouldn't notice that Yona wasn't wearing appropriate clothing for playing in the snow. He was just as absent-minded as Yona, albeit in a different way.

Hak walked up behind Yona, and was about to speak when the little princess threw another handful of snow up into the air, coating all three of them in a fresh layer of white. Hak sighed heavily, and Yona turned around with a small start, as Soo-Won giggled at the sight of his newly-christened friend.

"Oh, Hak, there you are! I was starting to think you wouldn't come! What have you got there?" she asked curiously, studying the bundle he held under one arm.

Wordlessly, Hak started peeling items off of the ball and handing them to his princess one by one. As he was helping her with the sleeve of her coat, he commented, "I noticed that you didn't have any snow clothes, so I went to go get you some."

Yona plopped her hat onto her head, and grinned at him. "Thanks, Hak! I hadn't even noticed, but my hands were starting to hurt from the cold!"

Hak sighed again. "I didn't think you would," he replied, although he couldn't conjure up too much annoyance at her when she'd just thanked him so prettily. As she pulled on her mittens, Hak studied her. Something was missing. _A scarf_ , he realized, mentally kicking himself for failing to bring one. Only one thing to do, then.

He tugged his blue scarf off of his neck, and as Yona was adjusting her boots, he wound it twice around her neck. She looked at him, wide-eyed, as he adjusted the ends, feeling the sudden need to prolong his proximity to her.

Yona looked down at the scarf. "But Hak, don't you need this?" she asked.

Hak shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine. I was getting a bit hot anyway."

She studied him for a second, and then gave him a smile that warmed his heart in a way that his scarf never could. "Ok then, thanks a lot, Hak!" He froze in place, stunned by the smile that had been just for him.

While he was staring at her, Yona turned to Soo-Won and declared, "Ok, since Hak is here, now we can have a snowball fight! Hak, whose team do you want to be on?" she asked, tilting her head around to look at him again.

Before he could reply, Soo-Won scoffed, "That's easy, we'll do boys versus girls, right, Hak?"

Yona cried out, protesting, "But that's not fair, you're both so much bigger than me! I need Hak just to even things up!" She turned to Hak with a pleading look in her eyes.

Well, how was he supposed to say no to that? Silently, Hak nodded at her, then directed an apologetic look at his best friend. Soo-Won spun around on his heel and marched off, but not before shooting Hak a look of utter betrayal.

Yona, on the other hand, squealed and wrapped her hand around Hak's arm, bouncing up and down a bit as she led him off to start on their fort. Looking at her excited face, Hak was certain that all the cold in the palace couldn't touch him with this fiery spark keeping him warm.


	2. Chapter 2

Under his skin, Hak was seething. He'd put on a smiling face earlier for Yona's sake, but that was just a façade for his real feelings. Feelings of pure anger. Possibly murderous intent. All directed at one self-entitled asshole sitting across the room from him.

Kan Tae-Jun.

Hak hadn't seen much of him since the incident where he'd inadvertently volunteered himself to be Yona's bodyguard. Tae-Jun had disappeared pretty quickly after King Il had arrived to admonish him, and made himself scarce afterwards until he'd left the castle with his father a couple days later.

Now, however, there was another meeting of the generals, and Hak, as Yona's bodyguard and, now, the Wind Tribe general, had a duty to attend these events. But that also meant that he had to look at Tae-Jun's face a lot more than he wanted to. Which was not at all.

What Hak really wanted to do was ram his fist into that face. He thought he might be able to tolerate how it looked after that.

But Hak knew that King Il would be upset if he beat up Tae-Jun right in front of him. No, he had to be sneaky about it, make sure that his sovereign didn't find out. So Hak settled for a dark glare that the other young man seemed not to notice. Luckily, the first meeting of the conference was wrapping up, which meant that Hak only had to sit and play nicely with the Fire Tribe general's idiot son for a little bit longer.

At least until the meeting ended.

As soon as King Il announced an ending to the day's proceedings, Hak stood quickly, flicking his gaze dismissively away from Tae-Jun. Without a word to anyone else, he inclined his head towards King Il, then strode outside of the room with long steps. Once there, he positioned himself in the shadow of a pillar just outside the door, leaned against the stone, and waited.

He didn't have to wait long. It seemed like Tae-Jun had been just as eager to leave the assemblage of people, although probably for different reasons. He came strolling out of the doors a couple minutes later, and breathed a sigh of relief as he did. Hak smiled wolfishly. He was alone.

Good.

Quickly, Hak advanced on the smaller man, towering over him as much as his height advantage would allow. Letting some of his fire show in his eyes, Hak smiled wickedly and sneered, "Come with me." Tae-Jun looked up at him with wide eyes, gulped, and nodded quickly. Satisfied, Hak whipped around and strode off towards a secluded area of the courtyard where they wouldn't be easily seen, not checking to see whether the cowed man was following behind him.

When he reached the right spot in the courtyard, Hak turned around slowly. Tae-Jun stood there nervously, playing with the hem of his sleeve, and desperately trying to summon up a brave face. Hak sneered. What a coward. Someone like this didn't deserve for the princess to even look at him. She deserved much better.

 _Maybe someone like me._

Hak narrowed his eyes a bit at the intrusive thought. He'd gotten used to them over the years, but that didn't make them any less annoying. Right now he had a task to do.

"Tae-Jun," he boomed, making sure to look down at the other man.

He winced, and managed to stutter out, "Y-yes?"

Hak leaned forward a bit. "Yes what?"

Tae-Jun hesitated a bit, unsure of what the intimidating man was looking for. "Yes…Lord Hak?" he tried.

Hak allowed a small smirk onto his face. "That's better." Tae-Jun seemed to relax a little in relief.

That wouldn't do.

Hak snapped his mouth back down into a stern line, and saw the other man flinch. That was better.

"We need to have a little chat about Yona." Hak reveled in the wonder of saying her name out loud, in the way that it fell from his tongue like ripe fruit. Outwardly, however, he made sure to keep his face still. After all, it would only make sense for him to call her by name if he was really engaged to her, as they had told this spineless idiot.

Tae-Jun swallowed dryly, and got out, "Wh-what about her?"

Hak rumbled, "I understand that you're here with your father as an official representative of the Fire Tribe. And that's all very well and good. A son should learn about the responsibilities of his family, right?" Tae-Jun nodded hesitantly, and Hak continued in a voice of stone, "But that's where your involvement in this castle begins and ends. You are, under no circumstances, to approach my beloved for the duration of your stay. You are not to try to talk to her, touch her, or even so much as look at her. You are not to follow her, or even be in the same room as her, barring meetings and meals. Do you understand this?"

Tae-Jun hesitated.

That would not do at all.

Hak took a step towards the shorter man, and turned it into a steady advancement forward. Tae-Jun stumbled backwards in an effort to put some distance between them as Hak closed on him, and growled, "I _will_ be watching. I _will_ know if you are anywhere _near_ her, or if you make her even _remotely_ uncomfortable. And whether King Il likes it or not, I _will_ make you regret involving yourself with her again. And _I_ will decide what constitutes involvement. Such as a sneeze in her direction." He noticed with satisfaction that the other man didn't seem to be in any mood to defy him now. Just to be sure, Hak leaned his face down within inches of Tae-Jun's and hissed, "Do you understand me?"

He was rewarded with the wild bobbing of Tae-Jun's throat as he attempted to swallow dryly, and his stuttered reply of, "Y-yes, sir! I mean, yes Hak, I mean Lord Hak! Of course, I won't think of touching Yona, I'll stay away from her, of course, I promise!"

Hak narrowed his eyes even more. "Who are you going to stay away from, now?" he asked, low and dangerous.

"P-Princess Yona! I meant the princess, Lord Hak, I promise I'll stay away from the princess while I'm here! Well, now, that's all settled, so I believe I'll go turn in for the night, wow, I sure am tired from my trip, good evening, Lord Hak, bye!" And, faster than Hak would have given him credit for, Tae-Jun turned around and scampered away across the courtyard, looking for all the world like a scared field mouse running from a wolf.

Hak watched him go, pleased with the results of his intimidation technique. As Tae-Jun's heels disappeared around a corner, Hak heard his name being called. "Hak? Was that Tae-Jun who ran away just now?"

He turned around in some surprise. He hadn't thought that Yona would find him so soon. _The princess_ , he admonished himself privately. It wouldn't do to slip up and call her Yona out loud. Either way, she must have been more bored than he had thought while he'd been in the meeting, if she'd come seeking him out so quickly. This spot had been a favorite play place of theirs as children, and they both used it semi-regularly when they needed some privacy.

Hak smiled at her, able to give her a genuine one now. "Why, yes, Princess, that was Master Tae-Jun."

Yona tilted her head up at him. "I thought so. Why was he running away from you?"

He managed to give her an innocent look. "He's an odd sort, isn't he? Said he was going to bed."

Yona gave him a perplexed look. "But, Hak…it isn't even dark yet."

At the look on her face, Hak burst out laughing. He reached out and ruffled her hair, out of a sheer, sudden need to touch her in some way. She glared up at him sullenly from beneath her fiery halo of hair. "Hak, don't make fun of me. Why don't you take me seriously for once?"

His face suddenly sobered, and he looked her dead in the eye as he responded, "I do, Princess. I do."


	3. Chapter 3

Hak looked over sullenly at his young mistress. She was fooling around during her lessons, as usual. Except this time, it was making him look bad. He was _supposed_ to be instructing her on the organization of the Five Tribes during the absence of her politics tutor. All that he had managed to do so far, however, was prod her awake every few minutes, in between her doodling on her scroll. The scroll she was _supposed_ to be using to make a diagram of the Wind Tribe's structure of leaders.

Hak sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. If he couldn't even get her to pay attention when he was talking about the tribe that he was the most familiar with, then how was he going to last the month it would take for her tutor to come back from his diplomatic trip to Sei? He wasn't even sure why he'd let himself get talked into this job. His real job was protecting the princess. He wasn't any type of teacher, he was a warrior. Hell, he couldn't even teach others how to fight very well, even though it came naturally to him.

He reached over and prodded her shoulder again, startling her awake. "Princess?" Hak asked, and was rewarded with her violet eyes cracking open and staring blearily at him. Suddenly, he remembered how he had been conned into his current position.

King Il had asked to speak to both of them together, calling them to the garden for afternoon tea. As much as Hak despised the ritual of the meal, he couldn't deny his monarch anything, and showed up in his full Wind Tribe ceremonial suit. King Il had chuckled a little bit to see him so arrayed, placing his hand fondly over his daughter's as he said, "General Hak, there is no need for such formality. It's simply Yona and me here, after all."

Hak had chosen to bow stiffly and take his seat at the ornate garden table rather than respond to this ridiculous statement.

"Now, I suppose you two are aware that Yona's politics instructor will be away for some time as part of his duties as an ambassador to Sei."

Yona beamed. "Yes, Father! It will be so nice to have that part of my afternoons free. I'm quite looking forward to it."

King Il flicked his gaze at her in some amusement before returning it to Hak, apparently awaiting some response. The wind general was confused, but replied readily, "Yes, Your Majesty. I am aware of the ambassador's plans."

The king answered, "Then you are also aware that Yona will be in need of a tutor for this subject over the next month." Ignoring her dismayed gasp, King Il continued to direct his steady gaze at the young general.

A creeping suspicion began to come over Hak. He answered carefully, with a short, "I suppose she will."

King Il smiled winningly. "And I can't think of anyone better to teach her about the laws of the Five Tribes than one of the generals himself."

Hak couldn't resist letting his sarcasm leak through. "I believe that General Geun-Tae is busy at the moment, Your Majesty."

This won a small laugh out of his king, and a desperate look from his princess. The king responded, "Hak, I think you know what I'm saying. I'd like you to instruct Princess Yona in politics for the next month."

He protested, "Your Majesty, I am not the right person for this job. I have never been a tutor on any subject, except perhaps weapons. I am by no means qualified to teach the princess."

"Hak, I think that given the circumstances, you are the best person for this job."

He was about to argue again when he caught sight of the princess's eyes. Those beautiful lavender orbs were drawn wide in dismay at the thought of her sudden hours of freedom being stolen back from her as soon as she had gained them. That look made him pause. Hak had to admit, he loved few things more than teasing the princess and seeing her reactions. Well, except for the princess herself, of course. And tutoring her for a couple hours each day would give him plenty of extra opportunities to see those pretty eyes of hers flash lots of interesting emotions at him.

Hak had looked up at his king with a wide grin. "All right, I suppose if you have decided, then I cannot disobey."

But now, less than a week into their new arrangement, Hak was already beginning to regret his impulsive decision. There hadn't proved to be many opportunities to tease his princess. Instead, he had spent almost all of his time simply trying to keep her semi-attentive. And, today, awake. As he reflected on his current situation in her sleep-clouded eyes, Hak took stock of something else. His princess had wide, dark crescents bordering the bottoms of her eyes. Frowning, he tried to remember if he knew when she had gone to bed the night before.

Yona noticed his expression and yawned up at him, "What is it, Hak?"

He flicked his eyes away from hers and back at the scroll he had been reading off of. "Nothing, Princess. I was just thinking that maybe we've done enough for one day."

Her face lifted. "Really?"

He nodded resolutely. "Yes. Would you like me to escort you back to your chambers?"

Yona smiled hazily up at him. "I'd like that very much, Hak. Would you mind giving me a minute, though? I just need to put my shoes back on."

Hak waited patiently as she leaned down onto the table and fumbled about underneath it for her slippers. After a few seconds, though, her hands slowed, and eventually stilled. Confused, Hak walked around the table so he could see what was wrong, and was greeted with her sleeping face. Smiling fondly, he finished putting on her left shoe for her, and lifted her gently into his arms.

He couldn't resist resting his lips faintly on her hair as he carried her along the deserted hallways, reveling in the feeling of her small body against his chest. When he got to her room, he placed her sleeping form softly onto her bed, tucking her hair out of her face as he whispered, "Sleep well, Princess."


End file.
